09:36 am - Wii are having fun!Dee let me head down to Sharkeez again yesterday to watch the VT game with a crowd of other Hokies. The game started at 4pm, and was a blast - of course, the Hokies won! I hung around a bit after the game with a few of the other married Hokies, including getting some dinner at a Mexican place a few blocks from the bar. After that, I headed home for my evening plans.

Around 9:30 PM, I walked across the street to Target and camped in line. Ahead of the Wii's release, some information on the number of Wii's at different Targets was leaked; the Target across from me had 210 units to sell. (Which was part of the reason why I camped there.)

I ended up in line around some other fun people, mostly college and high-school students, though. (Thankfully, they didn't seem to mind the "old fart" in their midst.) The line didn't grow very fast; around 10:30, they came around and "took names", so that they could rebuild the line should people start jumping.

At Midnight, the GameStop next to Target opened for Wii preorder pickups. One of the guys in line went to pick up his pre-ordered Zelda, and they found out that GameStop was selling their available games as well. Myself and two others took advantage and picked up some of our games; Zelda was not available (expect for those who pre-ordered), but I got Monkey Ball, Madden NFL, and Excite Truck. We then had some fun opening our games and flipping through manuals.

Gamestop closed at 1, and then we all settled in for the long night. Nobody really slept, except for short naps. It was a bit colder than I expected, but it was manageable. (If I had it to do over, I'd take some blankets with me.)

Around 6am, a lot more people started arriving and joining the line. 6:30, they gave everyone a "games and accessories" card so we could just hand that to the cashier so they could pull what we wanted a little bit faster. A few minutes later, another Target crew member made their way down the line distributing Wii t-shirts. Then, at 7, they handed out console tickets. I was #94 of 210. They turned away some people from the line, and were continuing to turn away people as we started into the store at 8 to buy our Wiis.

They let people in by groups of 20, so I was in the 5th "wave", each taking 5-10 minutes. They were really good with getting stuff together, and I felt like I was out in a flash once I got to the cashier. A quick run home, frantic unpacking, and my Wii is now downloading updates...